Stadio Holdings, the private tertiary education company, produced robust results for the period ended December 2022 off the back of an 8% rise in student enrolment owing to the continued high demand for quality higher education in South Africa.
The group services the higher education market in South Africa through three private institutions – Stadio Higher Education, Milpark and AFDA. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes through contact, distance, and blended learning.
The group said that in the period under review student enrolments increased to 41 296, while in December 2021 they were 38 262.
In the first semester of 2022, student enrolments rose by 11% to 38 348 as of June 30, 2022.
The distance-learning student numbers grew by 14% to 32 686 in semester one and by 10% to 35 597 in semester two.
However, contact learning student numbers declined by 4% to 5 662 in semester one and by 4% to 5 699 in semester two.
The decline in contact-learning students was in part due to Milpark Education transitioning away from offering contact-learning programmes to becoming a preferred provider in online distance-learning education, Stadio said.
Profit after tax rose by 36% to R186 million, while revenue increased by 11% to R1.2 billion.
Core headline earnings, a measurement used by the group as a benchmark for the underlying performance of the business, increased by 18% from R149m to R176m and basic core headline earnings per share by 18%, from 17.6 to 20.7 cents per share.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (Ebidta) increased by 13% to R351m.
A final dividend per share of 8.9c was declared, representing an increase of 89% from its maiden dividend of 4.7c, declared in the prior year.
Stadio CEO Chris Vorster said: “There continues to be a high demand for quality higher education in South Africa. For this reason, we continue to strategically position ourselves by focusing on optimising systems and processes, improving our academic quality and staff, and strengthening our links with the world of work to meet this growing demand and become a first-choice institution, a real alternative to public universities.
“Notwithstanding the many economic challenges facing the country, we continue to improve our offering to deliver on our vision of widening access to quality higher education," he said.
Vorster said the group was, nonetheless, cognisant of the negative impact of load shedding, coupled with the after-effects of Covid-19, on the economy and, more specifically, on the ability of cash-strained consumers to afford higher education offerings.
He said that operationally Stadio invested in generators and other back-up power solutions to continue its operations with minimal disruption, noting that 86% of its students study via distance learning.
"Management is actively investigating solar energy solutions, to not only alleviate the burdens of load shedding but to also progress the group’s commitment to greener campuses," he said.
Vorster said the Stadio Centurion campus that was completed in June last year was now fully operational.
He said Stadio Higher Education had also completed the expansion of its distance-learning logistics centre in Krugersdorp, which would enable the group to scale and continue improving its distance-learning offering.
“This institution showed excellent growth during the period under review particularly in the distance mode of delivery, with good new student growth recorded in the contact learning mode of delivery," Vorster said.
He said AFDA delivered excellent growth for the period under review, capitalising on operational efficiencies following improvements to its operating model over the past two years.
At year-end, all outstanding debt had been repaid by the group. The group renegotiated its debt funding facilities and has access to a revolving credit facility of R100m with an option to increase it by a further R100m.
Vorster said Stadio was in a strong cash position with a cash balance of R148m at year-end.
“This puts us in a position to look for further growth opportunities as well as to begin returning cash to investors through the payment of dividends,” he said.
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